Monthly Archives: December 2016

Many landscapes might be beautiful in Spring, Summer, and Fall but be lacking in color and interest in the Winter time. Winter color can be addressed in the planning stages of your Landscape Design, or by adding some plants that are selected specifically for their Winter color or structural interest.

Ornamental grasses

Winter color in the landscape can come from foliage color, berries, and a few blooms. Just because it’s Winter doesn’t mean we can’t have color. And structural interest can come from the bark on the trees and shrubs, leaf shape, the shape and structure of limbs, twigs and overall shape of the plants.

Depending on where you live in the United States, you may or may not be able to use these plants, this is not an all-inclusive list, but just a means of getting your mind working to generate some landscaping ideas and help you find some plants with Winter color and structural interest to liven up your landscape for the Winter.

You may need help in deciding what plant to place where in your landscape. Reading the labels on each plant will help with that, based on their size of mature growth and horticulture habits. If you need more help, there are some great books available to help you in Landscape Design.

Plants With Winter Color

Winterberry

Winterberry is a deciduous Holly, that grows in zones 3-9, 6-8′, it has white blooms in June-July, and grows best in full sun to part shade.

When people think of Holly, they usually think of a green leafed NON-Deciduous plant (keeps its leaves) shrub with pointed leaves that will stick you if you touch it. First, not ALL Holly have pointed leaves, and not ALL Holly are NON-Deciduous.

Winterberry Holly, a deciduous Holly with bright red berries

This beautiful shrub is all the more showy because its lack of winter leaves, its berry display is the money in this shrub. After the leaves have turned yellow and have fallen off, you are left with a breathtaking view of thousands of brightly colored berries clinging to every stem. What a joy to have such color in the middle of winter.

This variety from Proven Winners is “Ilex verticillata” it has a great geographical range, growing from Michigan in the North, all the way down to Florida, and West to the Western parts of Missouri. It also grows well in low areas, wet areas or wetlands. If you are looking for a smaller plant, ‘Red Sprite’ is a fantastic low mounded selection that matures at 3 to 5 feet. It has attractive, clean, dark green foliage, and tight branching right down to the ground. This plant makes a great low hedge or mass planting.

For those looking for something a bit different, try ‘Winter Gold’. This is yellow-berried

Winter Gold Holly Ilex verticillata

variety of ‘Winter Red’. The berries are not really gold, but instead and attractive pinkish-orange that lighten up with age. The name is a bit misleading since the berries aren’t exactly “gold”.

With these two varieties of the same plant you have two different colors to add to the Winter Color of your landscaping.

It’s important to remember that when you are adding a certain plant for a certain purpose, in our case we are trying to add Winter Color to the landscape, don’t over use any one plant. These are the types of plants that you would want to use for a splash of Winter Color, and not use them as a foundation planting with 4, 5 or even 8 in a row against the house.

A better use for a plant like this would be to use it in an isolated area away from the house. Or in a spot in the landscape that requires one plant, because of the spacing or placement of other shrubs next to it, you need one plant to fill a spot. This is a great place to add something like the Winterberry Holly.

Witchhazel is a plant that will grow to the areas of zone 5 and grows 20 to 30 feet tall with a slightly narrower spread. It grows in full sun to part shade but blooms best in full sun.

Yellow and Orange Witchhazel

Flowers: Bright yellow flowers bloom along the old wood.

Bloom Time:Late winter – February into March

Foliage: Green in the summer turning bright yellow in the fall

It is available in yellow and orange blooming varieties. This is another plant that should be used sparingly for accents of Winter Color in your landscape. These types of plants look best with used by themselves, or in a grouping of 2-3 off to themselves in their own landscape bed, or on the edge of the property, maybe in a bed on the corner of the property to help mark and designate your property lines.

Coral Bark Japanese Maple

The coral bark Japanese maple is a great plant for winter color, mainly for its bark color. The previous year’s growth is a bright red color in the winter. So the effect is that the branch tips are a bright red while the older stems are duller. As with all colored stem, the closer the plant is to the house the brighter its color will appear.

Coral Bark Japanese Maple Winter twig color

This is another great plant for Winter Color that you might not think of. Most homeowners are usually thinking about blooms for color. This is a great example of color, combined with a structural interest in a single plant. In this case a tree.

The Japanese Maple family makes up a great group of interesting plants for your landscape, most of them for their foliage color, stem color or shape in the Weeping Japanese Maple. It is also one of the few non-purple leafed Japanese Maples as it has green leaves in the Summer. This alone makes this variety of Japanese Maple interesting.

This tree should be pruned in late winter or in the spring. This is so you don’t cut off the colorful part of the stem with summer or fall pruning. The Coral Bark Japanese Maple is hardy in zone 5-8 and growths to 15 to 20 feet tall and wide.

Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood

Another great plant (tree) that will have red colored twigs or branches in the Winter is Red Twig Dogwood. This one shown is the Arctic Fire variety. This one grows in a smaller

Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood

clump type growth growing 3 to 4 feet tall and has green leaves during Spring and Summer. Its showiness and Winter Color comes from its stem color. Since it grows sort of low and wide it looks more like a large shrub than a tree.

The Artic Fire variety that is shown, needs pruning regularly to keep it cleaned up and kept from getting too unruly, even though it will only get around 3 or 4 feet tall. Again, when pruning, don’t cut it back in late Fall too much because you’ll cut off all of the red colored twigs which is what we are after for the winter color. It is a fast growing shrub that can be used in combination with several others for a border plant along a property line. They look impressive when bunched together to form a hedge along a border.

Pink Dawn Viburnum

A showy shrub that will bloom in late Winter to early Spring, depending on where you are located. It has beautiful pink/white blooms, and will grow 6′ tall and spread 8′ wide. The height and width growth habits on any plant are all subject to exactly where it’s planted.

Pink Dawn Viburnum, Winter Color with its blooms

One plant may reach this height and width if planted in its perfect cultural conditions on one landscape, when planted in another landscape with different conditions it may only reach half that height. This is a common theme with any plant. Just because the horticulture information on a tag says that a plant will reach 10′ tall, doesn’t mean it’s going to every time. What determines the ultimate height and width of a plant will be determined by it’s location planted, the zone it’s planted in, and your own pruning practices. When the tag says it will be 10′ tall, that is assuming it is planted in a perfect condition for that plant or shrub, and it never gets pruned. There are several boxwoods that are kept at 3′ tall as a foundation planting that have cultural tags on them saying they will reach 10′ tall.

Mahonia Underway Holly

This variety of Holly is planted for it’s unusual looking leaves and bloom color. This one will have yellow blooms with leaves similar to the Mahonia Beliegh and will bloom from

Mahonia Underway, great plant for Winter Color

January through March. It can grow 6 to 9′ high and wide, but again, your results may vary according to the location its planted in. They are grown for their attractive foliage and fragrant, showy winter flowers. They provide an invaluable source of pollen and nectar for winter colonies of bumblebees and other pollinators.

This variety is a compact mahonia with an upright habit. It’s bright yellow, fragrant flowers are produced in late autumn, earlier than other mahonias, followed by blue-black berries.

Mahonia x media ‘Underway’ looks particularly good at the back of borders. For best results grow in moist but well-drained soil, in partial shade.

Burning Bush “Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus”

Burning bush is a great plant for Winter Color in late Fall to early Winter. It’s foliage is a deep green through the year, then as the cooler weather comes the foliage starts turning red. Depending on where it is growing and the conditions, exposure to sun, etc. it will turn

Burning Bush for Winter Color through foliage

a very bright red color. Another bonus you get from Burning Bush is the shape and interest of the limbs when the foliage drops. The stalks that grow out of the base have an interesting shape with a raised “fin’ on the sides of it. This plant looks stunning in the snow when snow sticks to the plant and highlights the structure of the shrub.

It can grow 6 to 8′ tall and looks great planted by itself or planted in rows on a border of the property or a favorite is to use groups of 3 in a triangle as a property marker or as a principal plant along both sides of a driveway. It grows best in full sun, but will grow in some shade.

Mount Airy Fothergilla

Mount Airy Fothergilla is a deciduous shrub with deep blue-green leaves has attractive fall color. Honey-scented, brush-like flowers appear before the leaves. It is a beautiful addition to shrub borders or for background in semi-shaded borders. It looks good planted in combination with Burning Bush. Get them here

Mount Airy Fothergilla

This is another plant that shouldn’t be used right along the house as a foundation planting. It is deciduous, and will grow rather large, 5 – 6′ tall and wide, although it is a slow grower. The Winter Color from this plant will be in late Winter when it flowers before the foliage comes on. It has curly white flowers that are very interesting.

Fothergilla also has a very showy fall foliage. It will turn from green to yellow, burgandy as the cold weather comes in. This plant is

Fothergilla in the Fall

one of those that gives us some bonus benefits through foliage, bloom and stem interest.

There are only a handful of plants, trees, perennials that will give you the trifecta of landscape benefits. Fothergilla is one of them. It is also a plant that will take over the space it’s planted in, so it’s best planted off to by itself on the edge of the planting, or as a border, or part of a multi-layer border or landscaping where it doesn’t have to be the anchor plant. It is best used as a special plant to add a burst of color, interest and a change of pace from the usual round green shrubs.

Globe Blue Spruce

Is a great “focal point” plant to use as a showy piece in a landscape. It could be placed as a focal point next to a doorway, step, or by itself in a cove or indented brick area along the house. It is a slow growing plant but is also a hybrid, so it will need a little “special” care.

This plant is hardy down to 50 below, so it will grow in most areas of the US. This variety is grown from the Colorado Blue Spruce, which grows to 50′ tall or more. This hybrid will only be around 3′ tall. Cold weather won’t hurt it, but it will have trouble growing South of the Transition Zone.

This is another shrub/tree that is meant to be a focal point and be planted alone. It isn’t one that would make sense to be planted in a row or grouping. Besides, the cost of these would probably deter most of us from planting more than one.

Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental grasses provide a few different benefits for the landscape. Winter color is provided by the colorful foliage of some varieties. The shape and flowing nature of the tall foliage provides some movement and a different texture to the landscape. It’s good to

Miscanthus Purpurascen a purple fountain grass

have as many contrasting colors, textures, and plant structure as you can in the space you have to work with. If you only have the front of a small house to landscape, you won’t be able to fit many varieties of plants in to start with, so your plant selection will be limited and possibly, more important to get the most bang for your buck with each plant selected. Available Here

Flame Grass Miscanthus purpurascen

“Flame Grass” will grow 4 to 5′ tall and 3′ to 4′ wide, it grows in zones 5 through 9. It has green foliage that starts to turn reddish pink as the Summer turns to Fall, the white plumes appear in Fall and stay through the Winter for a nice show of Winter color. With the pink/reddish foliage coupled with the white plumes this plant is another of the trifecta plants that gives your landscape more than just one benefit. The tall, thin, flowing grass givs movement to the landscape as a bonus to the colors.

This one works great in a triangle spacing in certain spots in the landscape. A good use is for bordering, screens, or in a water themed landscape.

There are hundreds of varieties of ornamental grasses, each with similar habits that can be used for Winter color, flowing movements in the landscape, and interesting structure. These are some favorites

Pampas Grass

One of the taller of the ornamental grasses. It has one of the coarsest stalks of the larger grasses also. It can grow to 6′ tall with flower plumes extending a few feet up past that. It will spread up to 6′ also, so placement is critical when deciding where to put it.

Pampas Grass

This is one of the more common grasses planted in landscapes, especially when homeowners are planting themselves. It has a common name that most people know, so when they go to a Nursery they see this and recognize it and buy it. There’s nothing wrong with that, unless you want to be a little different. Step outside the box in your landscape design and choose something a little more showy, and different.

Pink Muhly Grass

Pink Muhly Grass is a variety of ornamental grass that has a great Winter color for the landscape. It’s flower plumes are pinkish to red and very showy. Available Here

Pink Muhly Grass

The grouping in the picture to the right is a great way to plant this ornamental grass. It’s height can reach 10′ tall with the plume, so they will need to be planted somewhere that they don’t block your view of your property from your house, (your personal view) but because of that height, they make a great plant to use as screen block, to specifically block someone else’s view of your property, (the public view) to give you some privacy on your deck or swimming pool.

Panicum Switchgrass

The ornamental grass to the right is Panicum Switchgrass. It is another ornamental grass that has a different look in it’s leaf color and the flowers it has. It also has been used in research for using it to make biofuels. Extensive studies have been done to determine if there is a value for the biofuel market.

For landscapes, just like the other ornamental grasses, it’s value is it’s color, shape, size, motion and interesting structure.

This selection of plants to provide Winter color is just a small sample of what is available. Simply go to Google, and search for Winter blooming plants, or plants with Winter color, and you will get enough suggestions to keep you busy through the rest of this season.

Planning ahead is one of the keys to a successful landscape, so don’t expect to rush out and buy a plant now and plant it for a beautiful plant this year. But, get your plan drawn out this Winter, then next Spring put it into action and start planting some of these in great spots. It will take some thought on your part to find a great spot for each plant. One plant may work in one spot where some of the others would not.

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You have probably heard that aeration is good for your lawn, maybe you’ve seen it done, or maybe you have seen the process done at a golf course, you may have even aerated your own lawn. But did you know that for what it costs to do it, or even to buy an AERATOR to do it with, that it’s the most beneficial and least expensive thing that you can do for your lawn?

First, what is aeration? It’s the process of taking small plugs of soil out of your lawn and depositing them on top of the lawn. Why does this help? Depending on if you have a normal home lawn, a commercial lawn that maybe gets a little more traffic, a school lawn, baseball field, football field, soccer field, or even a golf course, the problems that aerating fixes, will be more severe with more foot traffic, and even some vehicle traffic.

Aerating is similar to taking a house plant that has become root bound and repotting it. The same principles apply. Taking the house plant out of its confined pot and giving it more room to grow is what happens to turfgrass roots when you aerate. The holes that are poked in the ground give the roots more room to grow.

Thatch is a combination of decaying grass clippings, miscellaneous lawn debris, stolons and roots that build up at the crown of the grass plant. Over time this thatch acts like a barrier and keeps water, air, fertilizer and lime from getting into the root zone of the grass to do its magic.

Thatch layer in turfgrass

By aerating (making thousands of holes) the lawn, you will help to reduce this thatch layer and allow fertilizer, lime, water and air to get into the soil and the root zone of the turfgrass. The plugs that are left on top of the ground (when using a core aerator) will decompose over time and through microbial activity help to keep the thatch in check.

The picture at left shows the soil with some roots growing in it, the thick thatch layer, the crown of the grass and the grass blades.

As you might imagine from looking at this picture, this thatch layer can get so compacted that it is similar to having a sheet of plastic laying on your lawn. When it does rain or when you water, the water would run off instead of soaking deep down into the lawn. The compacted root zone also restricts the growth of the grass plant leaving your entire lawn looking lethargic, weak and yellowish.

Core Aeration

Core aeration is the best type, this is when the machine actually makes a plug (core) and pulls it out of the ground and deposits it on top of the ground. We prefer the core aerators over the spike aerators for this reason. The spike aerator still will poke holes in the ground and allow space, but they actually do a little compacting of the soil at the same time.

What happens is the spike goes into the ground and makes a hole, but since it doesn’t pull a plug of soil out of the ground, it just pushes the soil to the sides and makes the hole. This compacts that portion of soil while making the hole. This is a small disadvantage, so if you are short on available cash to buy an aerator, the spike aerator is better than nothing, and this one is less than $100.00.

A good core aerator can be bought for anywhere from $141.00 for this lesser expensive Precision Brand plugger to over $390.00 for this better built, better quality Agri-Fab Brand 40″ plugger This is another case of “you get what you pay for”. But, from experience, we have learned that the plugger type aerator does a better job, and if the extra bucks that it’s going to cost doesn’t kill you, then get the plugger.

There is one advantage to this particular spike-aerator. That is that you can seed and aerate at the same time with this one piece of equipment.

You will first need to run over the lawn a couple of times with this aerator being sure that you cover all spots of the lawn without leaving any blank spots in the lawn where you skipped. Then fill the seed hopper, and being even more careful, cover the entire lawn until you have applied the required amount of seed. How much seed you will need to put down will depend on the type of seed, and whether you are trying to just fill in a little bit, or if your lawn was nearly all gone and you’re trying to re-establish it. Look at our seeding page for more information about how much seed to use and how much fertilizer is needed, and what type of fertilizer.

If you want to get a little exercise or you don’t have a riding lawn mower to pull a tow behind type aerator, you can even buy a set of aerator shoes that will put holes in the lawn with every step you take.

If you are a serious lawn care fanatic and you have a small tractor that you use for various lawn and landscaping chores around the property, you can get a three point hitch type commercial grade aerator that you can use your tractor to aerate with. This is the type that we use in our Landscape Company. They will do the best job of any that we have shown you so far. However, the disadvantage is the cost.

This unit will run you over $2,100.00 plus shipping to boot. That’s a lot of money to spend for a piece of equipment that you may not use more than a half dozen times a year. But, let’s say that you and your brother, good friend, cousin, etc. go in together to buy one. Then the cost is cut in half and it’s not like the unit is going to be used by one or the other of you each time the other wants to use it. It should be available for either of you when you need it. Of course, one of you will need to own a tractor.

If you are a volunteer at your kids Little League or school, you might find this is just the tool you need to help them keep the fields in good shape.

Renting Equipment to Aerate

Still another option is to rent an aerator. You can rent a tow behind aerator for $50.00 to $75.00 from most rental stores. But, just do a little math and you can see that it wouldn’t take too many rentals and you could have bought one of your own. Plus not having the aggravation of having to drive to the rental store, load it, haul it back, etc.

Many rental stores will also have a walk-behind gas powered aerator. These are plug type aerators and do an excellent job. However, they will work you hard. If you’re not in good physical shape, we don’t suggest attempting one of these. You can buy one like this, Husqvarna 25.5″ for around $3,300.00

There are many options for equipment to aerate, here is another. A three point hitch type aerator for your tractor, in a spike type. Basically, it’s a large drum with spikes welded to it that you can use with your tractor.

Again, your tractor must have a three point hitch and be large enough to lift this unit weighing almost 400#. With this aerator and the 3-pt. hitch plugging aerator listed above, you can’t use just a small lawn and garden mower “tractor”, you will have to have at minimum a small Kubota/John Deere/Kioti tractor that would accept a front end loader, tillers, and other small equipment. You won’t be using what Sears calls a “Lawn Tractor”. Those are just lawn mowers.

And finally, one more option is a hand held plugging aerator. It’s simply a tool with two hollow spears on the end of it. Operating it is plain and simple, raise it up, push it down. Repeat this a few hundred times and you’ll be done. Again, for the person that doesn’t mind some vigorous exercise, or for those that have the smallest of postage stamp size lawns, this might be for you. This one sells for only $24.00 and you can even get replacement tines for it when you wear out what comes on it.

The bottom line of aerating is that it doesn’t matter what type of aerator you use, they will get the job done. The only difference is which type you use, how much money you want to spend and how much work you are willing to do. Aerating is the least expensive thing you can do to your lawn and will give you more benefits than some other lawn maintenance services you could have done.

The benefits of aeration

And of course, if you’re all fired up to get your lawn aerated and you don’t want to buy or rent the equipment, don’t have the time or energy to do it anyway and would rather just have a nice lawn without the sweat, then call your local Lawn and Landscape Company to get it done. It will cost you anywhere from $45.00 to as much as a few hundred depending on the size of your lawn and the market you live in.

The timing for aeration will depend on a couple things. Usually when the soil is soft enough for the tines to go into the ground is the most important, for the equipment to work right. If you have an irrigation system, then this is not an issue. You can simply water enough to make the ground soft, and go to work.

If someone asked I can do this once a year, when should I do it? I would say Fall. The next best time would be Spring. But, remember, golf courses, pro football and baseball fields, soccer fields and other turfgrass areas that get a lot of foot traffic or vehicle traffic will aerate several times a year. It’s one of those things that won’t hurt anything to do it even monthly.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us and we will try to answer for you. If you have found this post helpful, please share with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. We wish you greener grass and lush lawns!

Each year that goes by seems to bring more drought problems. Reservoirs are dwindling, rivers are drying up, forest fires are popping up in places that they haven’t been in years. There just might be something to this “global warming” business.

In the meantime government regulations are putting the damper on watering your lawn and garden with city water, some areas even restrict watering your lawn and garden with well water. So how do we keep our beloved plants alive? There might be an answer in harvesting rainwater.

Rainwater Harvesting Barrell

Lots of people are already catching rainwater to use in varying amounts now. Some simply catch a 35 gallon drum full to water their potted patio plants. When that runs out, they go back to using their city water, but even then, that’s 30 gallons of water that were saved. If all of us saved just that much each month, we would collectively save millions of gallons of water a year.

Where to start? First, you need something for rain water to run off of to catch it, usually your roof. Then, you simply catch that rainwater at the downspouts and send it to a collection barrel, tank or cistern. Depending on how elaborate you want to get, you can do this without even having any electricity involved just letting gravity work to use the collected water.

In more elaborate systems, in-ground storage tanks are used to store the water and electric pumps are then needed to lift the water out to pump it through hoses to use it. These systems can run into the thousands of dollars to build. What your needs will be will most likely fall somewhere between these. The diagram below shows a simple system with a couple of plastic barrels placed under a downspout. The two drums are connected by a piece of pipe that allows both drums to fill up with only one being under the downspout. You could feasibly connect as many barrels together as you want to increase your storage.

Rainwater can even be collected, filtered and run through an ultra-violet sterolizer that will make the water potable. These systems can get into several thousands of dollars, but if you live out in the middle of nowhere, and “off grid”, then it is a viable source for water.

No matter how elaborate you want to get, collecting rainwater just makes good sense! Reducing your water bill is just the beginning, helping to conserve water and being able to grow plants when you couldn’t before because of lack of water are just bonus reasons.

Do you have someone in your life that loves turfgrass? Someone that cuts the lawn twice a week, notices the nice lawns in the background in the movie you’re watching and loves the Green Grass Yankee Candle? Then here are some unique turf gifts they will love.

8. If you have managed to get that Perfect Lawn and want people to stay off of it, LET THEM KNOW! This sign will tell them you are proud of your lawn, and they need to stay off of it! Please Do Not Park On The Grass